Aren't you jealous?

[SlowPoke]

I get to go play juror #5064 today.

What are the odds of this being my stolen Jeep case from January 31?

[ccmtcanada]

Ahhhh...jury duty. Bring a book is all I can tell you!! I haven't been called for it yet, but know lots of people who have.

[TJQ]

Lucky you!

[Terry]

jury duty..oh yeah..hurry up and wait

 

go home postponed till tomorrow...

no.. not today.. lawyer wants one more day, so see you tomorrow same time..

 

two days of trial then the guy cops a plea ..and you are dismissed

thank you for doing your civic duty... and sorry you don't get paid

[Uncle Buck]

when they call my house, i always ask if they have the death penalty, and that i think electrocution criminals is a good idea...

 

it takes them about a year to call back ;D

[JohnF]

I get to go play juror #5064 today.

What are the odds of this being my stolen Jeep case from January 31?

 

I recently read that the only problem with the trial by jury system is that you are tried by 12 people too stupid to get out of jury duty.

 

JF

[Terry]

the first 2 times it's easy to get out of it

the third time you need a note from your doctor stating you're dead or you are doing time yourself for crimes..if not you are there

[bucktail]

Just state you hate all races!! Even your own!

[Headhunter]

A swastika in black magic marker across you forehead will get you off most times! In all seriousness, if you are self employed, you can be excused as you are the sole earner of the company and the court does not want to put you into bankruptcy to perform you civic duty.

HH

[BFSC Kevin]

couldnt you just show them that you are biased and love the death penalty.....?

[SlowPoke]

As Jack Bauer would say:

"The following took place between 9AM and 10AM"

Everyone arrived at the court house. The registrar "Sandy" was a nice older fella with a good sense of humour. Knowing that most people in the room didn't want to be there, he made us aware of the timelines and probabilities. Without giving up too much information he stated it was not a homicide case and if it did go to trial by jury we could expect between five and ten days. We would not be held over for Christmas. Sandy took attendance, there were approximately a hundred people in the room with about six no-shows. We were then let out for a break. In the hall. Instructed not to leave the floor. I need a smoke.

 

"The following took place between 10AM and 11AM"

We filed back into the courtroom for the Judge's grand entrance. She was fashionably late. I still need a smoke.

About 35 minutes later one of the court officers let us know that she was in another courtroom dealing with this case. I began to ponder if that was good news or bad news and then I thought to myself... I need a smoke. The court officer was doing his best to keep the mood light as he could see most of us were growing impatiant and/or needing a smoke. He was taking questions about the process when somebody asked what the Latin writings meant on the crest above the bench....

 

It was entertaining to hear a women behind me who happened to be retired from the linguistic speech pathology field pontificate on the meanings of these writings.

 

It turns out it's French and she wasn't even close!

 

Dieu et mon droit (French for ‘God and my right’) is the motto of the Sovereign and dates from the time of King Henry V (reigned 1413-1422). The motto appears below the shield on the Royal Coat of Arms.

 

Honi soit qui mal y pense (French for ‘Shame on him who thinks this evil’) appears on a garter which surrounds the shield on the Royal Coat of Arms. This garter symbolises the Order of the Garter, an ancient order of knighthood of which the Queen is sovereign.

 

The story behind the garter is that Edward III was dancing with a lady (which lady differs: usually thought to be the Countess of Salisbury) when her garter fell to the ground, and he picked it up and tied it to his own leg to save her embarrassment from the laughing courtiers. In defense of his actions, he said "Honi soit qui mal y pense:" "Ashamed be [he] who thinks evil there."

 

So, that lesson burned up a few more minutes.

I need a smoke.

 

"The following took place between 11AM and 11:05AM"

One of the side doors opens and in comes the court reporter followed by some clerks and (make your own trumpet sounds) Here comes the Judge!

 

She spoke for a few moments and thanked us all for participating in this process. It seems the defendent has elected not to face trial by jury and we're free to go.

 

100+ people and three elevators... I took the stairs down 14 floors. I earned that smoke.

 

-Brian

[irishfield]

In all seriousness, if you are self employed, you can be excused as you are the sole earner of the company and the court does not want to put you into bankruptcy to perform you civic duty.

HH

UMMMM.. definitely not the case in Simcoe County Joe. Leah's been nailed for Jury duty twice and the first time she tried to get out on that avenue and instead they said "good a self employeed business women" "perfect for a pier" "this business owner beat his wife that also ran her own business..you're in". She spent a week in Barrie..sequestered (sp) in a motel and when all was said and done the husband and wife left the court room hand in hand! At least that's what she tells me as to why she was in a Barrie motel for a week ! The justice system couldn't have cared less if she went bankrupt serving, nor the fact we had three little ones at home and I was running a business as well.

 

Me on the other hand.. I have been selected once... back when I was a EMT at Consumers Glass in Milton. Local Italian guy (father a well known mob member) killed his wife up on the escarpment. I don't have a raciest bone in my body.. but got out of that one by stating I hated Italians (and I wasn't that polite - used some slang) Was thrown out of the court and thought I was gonna get locked up.

[BFSC Kevin]

I don't have a raciest bone in my body.. but got out of that one by stating I hated Italians (and I wasn't that polite - used some slang) Was thrown out of the court and thought I was gonna get locked up.

 

hahahahha

[keram]

It is very easy to avoid this. You have to say "I does not talk in English tonque". It works everytime

[Headhunter]

Hey Wayne, it worked for my a couple of years ago. At the very beginning of our first day, they asked if anyone would find financial hardship by performing their civic duty, so I went up and explained that I run my own business and in fact, have 4 people working for me and without my direction, they would be lost and in turn, so would my business. They put me on the secondary list, which allowed me to go back to work, unless and until they called me back, which they didn't.

HH

[ketchenany]

Mamma Mia! – Pasta e fagioli! don't mind me I was only born there

[SlowPoke]

As much as I didn't want to be there, I do believe in the civic duty thing. It would have been tough financially (unpaid for time off) but 5-10 days wouldn't have killed me.

With all due respect, I wouldn't want anyone thinking of me as a racist let alone a courtroom full.

-Brian

[Terry]

I saw a judge in Barrie tell a contractor who worked on new house construction that self employed is no excuse to get out of jury duty

 

the guy said if he doesn't get back to the job he will lose the contract, which is his work for the next 2 years, Judge said hire someone to take your place..guy said I could but it will take a month or 2 to train someone to do the work the way it needed to be done just to be laid off in a few weeks when I am back to work ....Judge said not my problem

[Headhunter]

Note to self, don't get called to jury duty in Wayne or Terry's geographic area!

HH

[SlowPoke]

Note to self, don't get called to jury duty in Wayne or Terry's geographic area!

HH

LOL!! Pretty harsh judges eh?... I don't think I'd want to face them from the penelty box either!

I'm sure seasoned judges have heard every excuse in the book (twice) and have a hard time fine tuning thier Bull meters to seperate the legit from the bogus.

-Brian

[Terry]

......oh no...

...the criminals got less time then the self employed ......

[carp-starter]

In July 1981 I was transferred from Montreal to Toronto. Within 1 month I received a letter stating that I was to appear at the Brampton court house for jury duty in November. These guys were quick.

 

So in November I show up. Also over 100 people also show up. After about an hour, we were given the instructions about jury selection.

 

Attendance was taken. We were informed that we would be there selection for one week unless picked to be a juror. Juries had to be selected for many court cases – not just one case. There was a drum that held the names of all the people.

 

The first court case came up sometime Monday morning. The drum was rotated and a name was selected. There were lawyers there for the prosecution and for the defence. The jury member selected was either accepted or rejected by the lawyers. If your name was rejected, your name went back into the drum for the next court case otherwise, you were now a real jury member. The next name was selected and the procedure was repeated until the required number of people for the case were selected and accepted.

 

Once the jury was selected for the case, the next case came up and the above procedure was repeated. This went on for the rest of the week. I was stuck there for a maximum of 1 week unless I got accepted for a court case.

 

My name was selected from the drum on Monday morning. I was quickly accepted by the lawyer for the defence. Just as quickly, I was rejected by the lawyer for the prosecution. The case involved someone who sold drugs and the guy looked “”mean”. My hair at that time was long and so I think it was because of my hair that the prosecution rejected me and the defence accepted me. Sometimes a lawyer would question a person selected.

 

My name went back into the drum for other cases.

 

On Tuesday, the whole thing was repeated. My name never came up. The same took place on Wednesday and Thursday. My name was never selected.

 

When I showed up on Friday, I wanted to hide because on my final day I did not want to become a real juror and be stuck there for another 2 or 3 weeks.

 

My name never was selected after the first time on Monday.

 

It was a waste of my time doing nothing. Bring a book. We were paid about 4 or 5 bucks per day.

 

Since it was the first time for me, the whole thing was very interesting.

 

carp-starter

[kickingfrog]

I was in Barrie court today for the jury pool. It was a criminal case and before they got to me they had their 12 jurors. It still took until noon though.

 

BTW The shield/ crest in the Barrie court was identical as far as I remember, however the text was deferent and definitely Latin, too bad my last class was 20 years ago.

[SlowPoke]

The selection process would have been the same in my case but as I understand it they only select jurors once a week outside the GTA area. Those not selected would be sent home and in some cases called back the following Monday. I think I was fortunate that this court only had one case to select for as other cases may have lapsed over the holidays.

From talking to other perspective jurors, if you call in advance and offer to juror at a later date (bad timing, travel, financial reasons etc) they will most likely give you options. If you select the last available date before Christmas you are likely up for a very short trial if you are even selected. Then you're off the hook until the next time.

-Brian

[motv8tr]

Ok, other than financial reasons, why do so many people want to avoid jury duty? I know the system is a pain in the butt, I spent the morning in court today, second day as a witness in a trial by judge. I recieved a questionaire regarding jury duty, and have no problem serving on one if I am called to do so.

 

Maureen